PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — As traffic gets busier on Tampa Road, an East Lake Woodlands resident is worried about safety there, with drivers speeding and making left turns across multiple lanes.
What You Need To Know
Drivers are concerned with speeding and left turns on Tampa Road from East Lake Road to Curlew Road
Neighbors hear crashes at the entrance to East Lake Woodlands on Tampa Road
They’d like to see more patrols or safety improvements
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David Zinther asked Real Time Traffic Expert Tim Wronka about the stretch of Tampa Road between East Lake Road and Curlew Road.
He says he often hears crashes there from his home in East Lake Woodlands.
“We’ll be out on the lanai. The breaks squeal. And you hear the boom. And then you’ll hear the sirens. And you just hope that no one is seriously injured,” Zinther said.
Zinther has lived in East Lake Woodlands for the past eight years, where he has become more concerned about the traffic on Tampa Road, especially at the entrance and exit to his community.
“When the light changes, it’s like a drag strip when they’re going east on Tampa Road. The motorcycles, the cars with the loud mufflers. You can just tell they’re punching it,” Zinther said.
And he says that speeding is an issue affecting other drivers trying to make a left turn into the community or the AMC movie theater on the other side of the road.
He feels that’s when those crashes that he hears at home tend to happen.
“Again, trying to go across three lanes of traffic with cars that are clearly going more than the speed limit,” Zinther said.”And they’re taking their life in their hands. They get impatient and think they can make it but they don’t make it.”
Zinther would like to see more patrols and possibly even a change to the traffic light at Tampa Road and Woodlands Parkway to make it a left turn only signal.
Even though Tampa Road is a state road, the Florida Department of Transportation says that stretch is managed by Pinellas County. County officials are now looking into the intersection.
Drivers are also asked to watch their speed through that area.